Portable type-distributer



(No Model.)

B. CLARKE. PORTABLE TYPE DISTRIBUTBR.

N0.'457,182. Patented A'ug.. 4, 1891.

745 111 eases; ilzfniol' 9*. 9' 1/ V JZ LWK- UNITED STATES;

PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT CLARKE, OF GALVESTON, TEXAS.

PORTABLE TYPE-DISTRIBUTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 457,182, dated August 4, 1891. Application filed September 1, 1890. Serial No. 363,645. (No model.)

[ art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

' My invention relates to a distributing device which is adapted to-be carried in the hand by the person distributing type, and is r provided with a suitable receptacle or recess to receive the page of type or other form being distributed, and with suitable compartments or boxes to receive leads and spaces; and it is also provided on its rear or bottom side with two reversed handling-lugs so arranged as to fit the fingers of the hand, thereby rendering it easy and convenient of manipulation, and it is also provided with suitable supporting legs or feet.

2 5 The object of my invention is to provide a type-distributing device which can be comfortably held in the hand and without strain on the wrist, and which is provided with a suitable main receptacle to hold the matter being distributed and also with auxiliary receptacles for leads and spaces, whereby the labor of distributing is greatly facilitated and lessened and the work much more rapidly accomplished.

3 5 In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the distributing device, showing a receptacle for the page or other form of type and other receptacles for the leads and spaces. Fig. 2 is a bottom perspective view of the same, showing the handling lugs and feet. Fig. 3 is a section through one of the handling-lugs; and Fig. 4 is an end view of both of the handling-lugs, showing them detached from the distributing device.

5 A represents the portable distributing device or case, which is preferably rectangular in form, and may be of any convenient size. This device is intended to be carried in the hand by the person distributing the type, and

serves as a very convenient support or receptacle for the type while they are being distributed, and alsoprovided for readyand convenient disposition of leads and spaces, as will be hereinafter described.

The distributing device has a broad base portion, which is provided on its front lower edge with a ledge a, which serves to hold the page or other type-form in position on the distributer and from falling off of the same.

A short distance from the top of the dis- 6o tributer a narrow horizontal strip a is placed, Y which forms an upper receptacle, preferably for leads. At one side or end of the distributer a series of recesses or boxes, one above the other, are formed for the reception of va rious kinds of spaces. I have shown five re ceptacles, (marked 1, 2, 3,4, and 5,) preferably designed for spaces, as this is the most convenient number used in distributing. In distributing, for instance, pica, I would place en-spaces in the first receptacle, marked 1; three-em spaces in receptacle marked 2; four-' em spaces in receptacle marked 3; five-em spaces .in receptacle marked 4, and six-em spaces in receptacle marked 5; and likewise in distributing long primer, brevier, or nonpareil the same order would be followed.

The utility of the boxes or spaces at the left-hand end of the distributer will be obvious from thefollowing: In all well-regulated 8o printing-offices spaces are not or should not be placed in the job-cases, for the reason that in large offices there are two or three hundred job-cases, and when each one contains some spaces the result is a constant shortage of spaces; but such inconvenience might be readily avoided if each size were collected during distribution and put in a sortcase.. Where a space-box is provided in a job-case, it usually becomes a receptacle for 0 all kinds of trash, and as some cases are used many times a day and other cases are used not more than once a week, and as all these cases may be full of spaces, great inconvenience arises. It is not uncommon for men to 5 hunt in all the cases for spaces, and thereby. lose valuable time. To avoid these inconveniences and annoyances the little spaces or receptacles at the left side of the distributer have been provided for the spaces, and when zoo they are filled with spaces they are emptied into the sort-case.

' tributer.

011 the rear or bottom side of the distributing device are provided two reversed lugs 0 cl, which form a Very convenient and strong purchase for the fingers of the hand and render the liability of the distributer falling from the hand very slight. These lugs are the exact counterpart of each other, but are set with concave sides facing one backward and the other forward, and their curved form is such as to exactly fit the forefinger and thumb of .the left hand, and they are slightly diagonal to the bottom of the distributing device, one of them being slightly forward of the other. Theselugshave fiat plate-extensionsf, through which screws pass and fasten them to the dis- The form and position of these lugs are such that the hand of the person holding the distributer can be kept very nearly, if not quite, on a straight line with the fore part of the arms, thereby relieving the fingers from strain to a very great degree and transferring the strain to the muscles of the arm.

On the bottom of the distributer, near its upper edge and at each end, two short legs or feet 9 g are provided, and on these feet the distributer can be set on a stone or table and the distributer stand in an inclined position without liability of the type or the distributer itself tumbling down.

In the operation of distributing, the matter to be distributed is first wet, and as a result there is a constant dripping of dirty water from the matter, and without the use of my distributer the water would run onto the hand and down the wrist, and as it is common in the old way of distributing to rest the arm holding the type being distributed upon the ledge of the type-case the soiled water is conducted to the type-case, thereby dirt-ying and destroying the same; but by the use of my device this annoyance and inconvenience are overcome.

, That I claim as my invention isl. The portable type carrying and distributing device comprising a broad base portion, upper and lower ledges a a", and a series of receptacles arranged at one side for spaces and with a longitudinal angular receptacle for leads and a chamber between the ledges to hold the type while being distributed, substantially as described. v

2. A portable type carrying and distributing device provided with two curved revers'elyset diagonal handlinglugs, as c 01, applied on its under side, substantially as described.

3. As a new article of manufacture, the-distributing device formed with the type-receptacle and receptacles for leads and spaces and provided with short legs near its upper edge on the under side and with two curved reversely-set diagonal handling-lugs, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ROBT. CLARKE;

Witnesses:

R. \V. SHAW, WM. SCHMIDT. 

